[HPFGU-OTChatter] quotes and questions

[Shaun Hately]

On 7 Feb 2003 at 13:35, chanteuse thalia chaunacy wrote:

> [KETCHUP?? is this a US publishing misinterpretation, or is ketchup 
> considered a FOOD in the UK? here it's a condiment, and would NOT be 
> mentioned on such a list.  yes, it's mentioned right after gravy, but 
> gravy's in the grey area between the two categories, therefore acceptable 
> on said list.]

Amusingly this issue has a clear answer. Ketchup is *not* a food in the US. Back in  
1981, the US Government attempted to claim that it was a food - specifically that it was 
a vegetable. They were basically looking at rules for federally subsidised school meals - 
the rules required (from memory) two vegetables to be included in the meals, and there 
was a claim made that a hot dog with ketchup and pickle relish would fit that 
requirement because both of those things were vegetables.

That attempt was defeated so ketchup has legal status as a condiment - not as a food in 
its own right.

Little bit of trivia there (-8

(And, as a matter of interest, the debate is one of the first news stories I can remember. I 
was six. I *liked* the idea that it was a vegetable, and tried to use it as an excuse not to 
eat the yukky peas my mother kept forcing on me. Didn't work.)

Yours Without Wax, Dreadnought
Shaun Hately |webpage: http://www.alphalink.com.au/~drednort/thelab.html
(ISTJ)       |email: drednort at alphalink.com.au | ICQ: 6898200

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